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Jordan Walks A Tightrope After Downing Iranian Drones And Missiles
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CNN —
As the skies over Amman and other Jordanian cities lit up with Jordan's interception of Iranian drones and missiles headed for Israel last weekend, officials in the country were notably silent for hours.
Tehran's unprecedented attack on Israel in retaliation for a suspected April 1 Israeli assault on its diplomatic building in Damascus has put the kingdom in an uneasy and dangerous position.
Jordan's geography demonstrates its quandary. The small kingdom sits between Israel and the West Bank on one side, and Iran's neighbor Iraq on the other, where pro-Iran militias reign supreme. To its north lies Syria, a failing state that is also in Iran's orbit.
Last week's attack was the first time in more than three decades that missiles directed at Israel entered Jordanian airspace, when Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at the Jewish state in 1991 during the Gulf War.
But much has changed since then. Jordan became the second Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel in 1994. In the eyes of Israel's Western allies, it has been vital to regional security. It has close intelligence and security cooperation with Israel, hosts American troops and is reliant on United States military aid.
The Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty had always been unpopular at home, but it has come under increased stress of late. Emotions have been running high in Jordan over the war in Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed as Israel pummels the territory. More than half of Jordan's population is either Palestinian or of Palestinian descent, and for months its leadership has been walking a tightrope trying to balance mounting public anger with its close alliance with the United States and relationship with Israel.
In the early hours of Sunday, Jordanians took to social media to post videos of interceptions and projectile fragments that landed in some parts of the country. "It was scary… you could hear the explosions echo (across the area)," one Amman resident told CNN.
The only official announcement related to the events that night came hours before the attack from the country's civil aviation agency, announcing the closure of the kingdom's airspace for traffic.
The optics weren't good.
It didn't take long that night for social media to get flooded with posts criticizing Jordan and its leadership for the interceptions. The kingdom was portrayed as shielding Israel at a time when Palestinians were being bombed by Israel in Gaza. One meme shared by users apparently outside Jordan showed a manipulated image of Jordan's King Abdullah in an Israeli military uniform.
Officials were likely scrambling behind the scenes to explain the events to their people.
On Sunday the government confirmed the interceptions "to protect citizens and residential areas." Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh, speaking during a cabinet meeting, warned against the "spread of rumors or misleading news that could fuel anxiety and fear."
But it did little to ease concerns among many in the kingdom that trouble may still be ahead. After Tehran completed its attack against Israel, it turned its focus on Jordan.
"The military forces of our country are carefully monitoring the movements of Jordan during the punitive attack of the Zionist regime (Israel), and if they participate in a possible action, they will be the next target," an unidentified source in the Islamic Republic's armed forces told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Within hours, Jordan summoned the Iranian ambassador in Amman to protest what it said was "harmful disinformation." Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN's Becky Anderson on Monday that Amman will "retaliate" against Iran if such "disinformation" continues, adding that his country faces longstanding threats from Iranian-backed groups accused of smuggling drugs and weapons.
US and Israeli officials sought to play up the role of Arab states in thwarting Iran's attack. But Jordan pushed a different narrative.
"What we did was consistent with our long-standing policy and any projectiles, drones, whatever that enters our space" Safadi said. "We are in the range of fire and any missiles or projectile that could fall in Jordan would cause harm to Jordan. So, we did what we have to do. And let me be very clear: We will do the same regardless of where those drones are from. From Israel, from Iran, from anybody else. Our priority is to protect Jordan and to protect Jordanian citizens."
And Jordan's leadership seems intent on sending that message to its people. Fighter jets have been patroling its skies since Monday. The military says it has increased air sorties to prevent any violations of its airspace and to protect the country.
"Jordan will not be a battlefield for any party, and the protection of Jordanians comes above all else" King Abdullah told local leaders in a visit to the northern governorate of Mafraq on Tuesday.
The country's message to the international community and its allies this week has been that the focus should return to Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians there. Ending the war in Gaza is the only way to deescalate regional tensions, is the message that King Abdullah gave to US President Joe Biden in a call on Sunday, according to the Jordanian Royal Court.
In the CNN interview, Safadi accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyaahu of "invoking a fight with Iran" to "dilute" the international pressure on Israel over Gaza.
The Jordanian monarch has faced a tough balancing act since October as anger over the mounting death toll in Gaza has driven thousands to the streets.
Abdullah and his wife Queen Rania, who is of Palestinian descent, have been among the loudest and most critical voices of Israel and its devastating war in Gaza. The kingdom has also been at the forefront of the effort to deliver humanitarian aid into the enclave, turning its military airport into a hub for international airdrops and carrying out dozens of such missions.
But for many in Jordan that has not been enough. Protesters since October have urged the kingdom to do more, with pressure growing on it to cut ties with Israel and shut its embassy in Amman, the scene of many protests over the past six months.
It is no secret that Jordan's relationship with Israel under Netanyahu's leadership has been strained for years, but is now perhaps at its lowest in decades. Those frustrations were laid bare by Safadi, Jordan's foreign minister, who ruled out breaking relations, but said the Jordan-Israel peace treaty is now "a document collecting dust."
As Israel weighs how to respond to Iran's attack, the region sits on a knife's edge with the very real threat of an all-out war in the Middle East. And the stakes could not be higher for Jordan, a key Western ally that has prided itself as a bedrock of stability in a turbulent region.
An Unexpected Player In Israel's Defense: Jordan, Home To Many Palestinians
The response by Israel and other nations to Iran's aerial attack kept the majority of its drones and missiles from landing in Israel, ensuring they caused only light damage and a handful of injuries, Israeli officials said.
An unexpected — and for some, unwelcome — actor played a role in Israel's defense: Jordan, the Arab kingdom next door.
Jordan fought four wars with Israel between 1948 and 1973 before signing a peace treaty in 1994. Its population is heavily made up of Palestinians, and their descendants, who were barred from returning to their homes by Israel after the 1948 war that followed the establishment of the Jewish state.
Jordan's involvement was welcomed by older Israelis who remembered when Jordan would shell Israel. But Palestinians and their supporters denounced Jordan's role, accusing the kingdom of siding with Israel at a time when its military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, according to health officials there.
Amir Tibon, a journalist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, celebrated the role played by Israel's allies, including Jordan. He called it "an important lesson for us Israelis."
"Science, technology and alliances with the world: These are the things that hold Israel together," he wrote.
On Sunday, Jordan's government issued a statement describing its military action as an act of self-defense, not done for the benefit of Israel.
It said the drones and missiles "that entered our airspace last night were dealt with and confronted preventively without endangering the safety of our citizens and residential and populated areas."
It military will continue to defend Jordan against any future incursions by "any party" in defense of "the nation, its citizens, and its airspace and territory," the Jordanian government added.
That official explanation did not mollify critics of Jordan's involvement on Sunday. Large pro-Palestinian demonstrations have taken place in Jordan since the war began in October, and the authorities have often responded harshly. This year, Amnesty International criticized the kingdom for arresting more than 1,000 protesters and others.
Social media users shared a meme of Jordan's ruler, King Abdullah II, wearing an Israeli military uniform. In a post on X, Dima Khatib, the managing director of AJ+, a digital news organization owned by the pan-Arab network Al Jazeera, called Jordan's actions "shocking."
"Friendly countries are responding, not to the attack of Israeli planes, drones and missiles on Palestine, but to an attack on Israel," she wrote. "There are Arab citizens who pull the trigger to protect Israel and watch when the Palestinians are bombed."
Jordan Comes To Israel's Defence Despite Criticism Of Gaza War
Jordan has been critical of Israel's war with Gaza, with its foreign minister accusing Israel of aiming to "empty out Gaza", which he said meets the legal definition of genocide.
The king of Jordan last week teamed up with the presidents of France and Egypt, urging Israel for a ceasefire.
Israelis expressed surprise mixed with admiration for its eastern neighbour and former adversary that managed to shoot down many of the drones over its territory.
"Forgive me for getting personal, but the fact that my parents sat in shelters during the War of Attrition following rockets from Jordan – and tonight there was the same air raid alert in the kibbutz but Jordan helped intercept them from Iran is like a hallucination," Nurit Yohanan, a reporter with the public broadcaster Kan, tweeted on Sunday.
"Israel has cashed the check for many smart decisions from decades ago."
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